2. On the fifth day of the month—this was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile—
3. the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar. There the hand of the Lord came upon him.
4. As I watched, a great stormwind came from the North, a large cloud with flashing fire, a bright glow all around it, and something like polished metal gleamed at the center of the fire.
5. From within it figures in the likeness of four living creatures appeared. This is what they looked like:
6. They were in human form, but each had four faces and four wings,
7. and their legs were straight, the soles of their feet like the hooves of a bull, gleaming like polished brass.
8. Human hands were under their wings, and the wings of one touched those of another.
9. Their faces and their wings looked out on all their four sides; they did not turn when they moved, but each went straight ahead.
10. Their faces were like this: each of the four had a human face, and on the right the face of a lion, and on the left, the face of an ox, and each had the face of an eagle.
11. Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. On each one, two wings touched one another, and the other two wings covered the body.
12. Each went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they went; they did not change direction when they moved.
13. And the appearance of the living creatures seemed like burning coals of fire. Something indeed like torches moved back and forth among the living creatures. The fire gleamed intensely, and from it lightning flashed.